Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ to be republished in Germany – For seventy years, ending today, Bavaria has owned the copyright to Mein Kampf, and has banned its republication in Germany. Next month, Munich’s Institute for Contemporary History will publish an annotated version of the book, with a desire to “thoroughly deconstruct Hitler’s propaganda in a lasting manner and thus to undermine the still effective symbolic power of the book.” The impending republication has, of course, catalyzed much debate over the historical value of the book and the need (or not) to republish. Also this month, a comic book version of the story of Alan Cranston has been published, the first of a series of “educational comics” published by the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studied. In the 1930’s, Cranston was so disgusted by the heavily edited American version of the book that he republished a more complete version so that Americans could see the full horror of Hitler’s racism and violence, and in turn, Hitler sued Cranston for copyright infringement (Hitler won, by the way).

“Mein Kampf” was originally around 600 pages long, and the book sported Hitler’s photo with the title splashed across a red background.

The annotations swell the institute’s version, which is titled “Hitler, mein Kampf” (subtitle: “A critical edition”) to about 2,000 pages. Its cover is a dreary gray in gray with no artwork.

Germany’s justice system has vowed that any republication or distribution of the original book without proper annotation is to remain illegal. – CNN and The New York Times

GEORGE LUCAS RIPS INTO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS – Not surprisingly, George Lucas is not thrilled with Disney’s handling of the most recent Star Wars installment. His characterization of Disney as “the white slavers” is even more provocative, but there is clearly no love lost between Lucas and Disney:

Lucas continues with mention of how Disney scrapped his storyline for Episodes 7-9, in favor of what some critics deem the most expensive piece of fan-fiction ever created.

“They looked at the stories, and they said, ‘We want to make something for the fans’….They decided they didn’t want to use those stories, they decided they were going to do their own thing….They weren’t that keen to have me involved anyway – but if I get in there, I’m just going to cause trouble, because they’re not going to do what I want them to do. And I don’t have the control to do that anymore, and all I would do is muck everything up. And so I said, ‘Okay, I will go my way, and I’ll let them go their way.’ ” – Cosmic Book News

Debate Rages Over Whether Speaking A Second Language Improves Cognition – A very interesting article on the problems around reproducing the results of those studies that have found a cognitive advantage to bilingualism. Not only are there issues around reproducing the results, but there are also questions around how and what kinds of contexts matter, whether cognition affects the acquisition of language or vice versa, and even a potential publication bias against studies that question the more positive research findings.

Paap and colleagues identified several problems with this body of evidence. When researchers study groups in natural settings outside the laboratory, they can’t control factors that may differ between groups, such as socioeconomics, immigrant status, and cultural differences. Attempts to match these factors among groups or account for them statistically are inevitably imperfect, leaving the possibility that differences in performance are due something other than language skills. An even thornier problem has to do with causality. Does being bilingual influence cognition, or does a person’s cognitive ability affect the probability of acquiring multiple languages? – Scientific American

The Secret History of One Hundred Years of Solitude – A very cool piece on Gabriel García Márquez and One Hundred Years of Solitude, which was published almost 50 years ago. Interviews with García Márquez’s agent, Carmen Balcells, Toni Morrison, and others, as well as a chronicle of his initial New York publishing contract (“shit,” as García Márquez called it), One Hundred Years of Solitude‘s translation into English, and García Márquez’s falling out with Mario Vargas Llosa make for a very engaging read.

“I was sitting in my office at Random House,” says Toni Morrison, then an editor with two of her own novels published, “just turning the pages of One Hundred Years of Solitude. There was something so familiar about the novel, so recognizable to me. It was a certain kind of freedom, a structural freedom, a [different] notion of a beginning, middle, and end. Culturally, I felt intimate with him because he was happy to mix the living and the dead. His characters were on intimate terms with the supernatural world, and that’s the way stories were told in my house.”

Morrison’s father had died, and she had in mind a new novel, whose protagonists would be men—a departure for her. “I had hesitated before writing about those guys. But now, because I had read One Hundred Years of Solitude, I did not hesitate. I got permission from García Márquez”—permission to write Song of Solomon, the first of a run of big, bold novels. (Many years later, Morrison and García Márquez taught a master class together at Princeton. It was 1998—“the year Viagra came out,” Morrison recalls. “I would pick him up in the morning at the hotel where he and Mercedes were staying, and he said, ‘The peell: the peell is not for us men. It is for you, for you women. We do not need it, but we want to please you!’ ”) – Vanity Fair

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isn't sure if she's an average Romance reader, or even an average reader, but a reader she is, enjoying everything from literary fiction to philosophy to history to poetry. Historical Romance was her first love within the genre, but she's fickle and easily seduced by the promise of a good read. She approaches every book with the same hope: that she will be filled from the inside out with something awesome that she didnÊ¼t know, didnÊ¼t think about, or didnÊ¼t feel until that moment. And she's always looking for the next mind-blowing read, so feel free to share any suggestions!

Comments

*sigh* Mr. Lucas, if you wanted your story filmed, you could have filmed it any time in the past 30+ years. You didn’t, then you sold the rights. Whining about it now will not garner you sympathy, except possibly from the people still freaking out over the casting of the leads. (You don’t want to be associated with those people.)

I think the writing in The Force Awakens is better than anything Lucas would have done, but he does have a point about how Hollywood recycles. I won’t spoil the movie for everyone here, but I can see his point.

George Lucas gave us Jar Jar for which he was, in my opinion, rightly critized. Having had his own problems with the creation of episodes I thru III, he shouldn’t cast stones. Besides Lucasfilms sold for $4 billion. Get over yourself.

I am not sure if this portion of Dear Author is going to continue into the new year. This is my wake up reading and the first site I go to in the morning. I do hope you coninue. If not, you have my heartfelt thanks for the time and effort you have put into this column. Of couse, I enjoy the reviews and have been introduced to many new authors, but what a great way to start the day

For Disney to be “white slavers,” then Lucas’s films would have to be actual people, and I thought most who frequent Dear Author are pretty clear on where they stand when authors refer to their stories as their “children.”

Also, I’m pretty sure white slavers don’t pay $4 billion, half of that in stock which has mostly appreciated since the transaction (and no, not just because of Star Wars. The theme parks are booming, the animation divisions are booming, consumer products are booming, Marvel is booming. The sore spot holding back further stock gains is ESPN). And since Lucas sold mostly to take advantage of expiring tax breaks and to avoid a rise in capital gains tax and an increase in Medicare contributions – saving himself over $175 million in tax bills by selling when he did instead of later – doesn’t that make him the one who sold his “children” for filthy lucre?

Twentieth Century Fox would have bent over backwards to have additional Star Wars films – there are still many Fox execs angry over Lucas selling to Disney, which could and did outbid Fox – so if Lucas truly wanted to make the sequels with complete creative control, Fox would have gladly been his distribution partner as they were for the prequels. But he didn’t and they weren’t, so to mix my metaphors Lucas is crying over spilled sour grapes.

Honestly the best thing that could have happened to the series if it was gonna continue was for it to be taken away from George’s control. He was too close to it and it feels like he is too enamored of the technique of filmmaking rather than the pure pop-corn fantasy that he originally sold.

To be fair, the middle ‘prequels’ were good from a storytelling standpoint. But the story isn’t enough. It is like an audiobook, a bad performance can kill a great story. And outside of Ewan MacGregor, the prequels were execrably cast so no amount of good story could overcome what was in effect wooden acting.

In the Force Awakens, the ridiculously charismatic young cast re-captures the same chemistry that the original three (Hamill, Fisher, Ford) had. And yeah, I agree the story wasn’t as sophisticated as it could be and let’s face it, really could be considered fan service, but again, like an audiobook, a great performance elevates so-so material. And that happened here. I totally loved Rey, Finn, Poe and even Kylo Renn so much that I hand wave some of what I feel is a regurge of some original elements.

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